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Arab countries prepare to regulate capital markets: UAE official

Xinhua, January 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of Economy, Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, said at the ninth Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) regulators summit in Abu Dhabi on Monday, that harmonizing capital markets in the region was uppermost on the GCC's 2015 agenda so as to develop the region's non-oil sector.

The minister made the remarks as he delivered a keynote speech at the summit that the GCC previously managed to create a common market and a customs union in 2003, "and our vision is to adjust the financial markets regulatory framework in the GCC's six Gulf Arab countries." Concrete steps towards implementing this goal will be taken this year, he added.

The capital markets in the GCC have set up a committee in 2010 to unify the markets' regulatory framework in order to attract more foreign direct investments (FDI) and to further the non-oil sector, "we are prepared to act this year to bring our plan to life," said Al Mansoori, adding that "it will additionally help in dealing with challenges such as the volatile currency market and the plummeting oil prices, as discussed last week at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos."

There are eight exchanges in the GCC. Dubai has two markets, the local Dubai financial market and the Nasdaq Dubai, with the latter being the region's only international market by regulatory standards.

The minister said the UAE, a major oil supplier, has seen its gross domestic product (GDP) grow by 4.5 percent in 2014, with oil representing 29 percent of the UAE's national economy.

The two-day GCC regulators summit will run till Tuesday. Endit